No. 2 Ohio State’s stunning 13-10 loss to Michigan on Saturday ultimately knocked the Buckeyes from a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game and a rematch against No. 1 Oregon; Ohio State will not be making a trip to Indianapolis next week after No. 4 Penn State routed Maryland 44-7 to earn the date with the Ducks. Still, the Buckeyes will likely still find a place in the College Football Playoff come Sunday, Dec. 8 when the field is announced.
The absolute floor for Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Rankings is No. 10 Indiana despite the fact the Buckeyes will potentially finish with one more loss than the Hoosiers. They have two top-10 wins, one of which was a dominant 38-15 victory over Indiana just last week. Between that and the Hoosiers’ poor strength of schedule, there is not much they can do to Purdue to prove they belong ahead of Ohio State.
There is also a case for the Buckeyes to stay ahead of No. 8 Tennessee, which won at Vanderbilt on Saturday. Their losses are similar, and Ohio State has two wins over teams that are higher ranked than the Volunteers’ best win, which is No. 13 Alabama. Tennessee is also a playoff lock following its win on Saturday.
The decision over which of Ohio State or Tennessee is ranked higher could end up determining who hosts a matchup between the two in a first-round CFP game.
Ohio State could still win the Big Ten, but it is asking a lot. Penn State would have to lose to Maryland and Indiana would have kick the (Old Oaken) Bucket against Purdue. That reverts everything back to the three-way tie we had to start the day, and the Buckeyes would still win that because of head-to-head results with the Nittany Lions and Hoosiers.
